


Atlas Nightmare

by orphan_account



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-29 22:57:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10863831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: I'm really bad at summaries, but I'll give it a shot. Team Natsu, Team Shadowgear, and Lisanna are on a job in hargeon. The girls start disappearing. What should the boys do? lol I'm so bad at this.





	1. Hide and Seek

It was about 6:00 Saturday morning in Magnolia when Lucy kicked Natsu and Happy out of her house for about the thousandth time that week. The blonde had woken up to find her pink haired friend and the blue exceed (an exceed is a cat with wings basically) snoring in her livingroom.   
She proceeded to shriek, “NATSU! HAPPY! GET OUT!!!”  
“Just five more minutes…,” Natsu mumbled in his sleep.  
“No! Now get out of my house! How many times do I have to tell   
you guys to stop breaking into my house at night!” She asked, quieter this time.  
“Do you want me to answer or leave?” he quipped back.  
Lucy glared and threw a pillow at him.  
“Natsu! Come back when you have a job for our team,” Lucy said.  
“I already do. We’re teaming up with Lisanna and team Shadowgear.” Natsu answered, sitting up criss-cross style.  
“Really? Which job needed so many people?” she asked “Not that I’m complaining about teaming up with Levy and the others,” she quickly added.  
“The one in Hargeon. You know, the one with the 770,000 jewel reward. The one that asked for a group of 11 wizards to go and help protect the mayor at a parade,” said Natsu.  
“Ohhh. But my share barely even covers my rent!” Lucy cried.  
“I’ll give you some of our money since Happy and I only need it for food,” said Natsu.  
“Hey! What about all the extra fishies I want to eat Natsu?!” Happy shouted, hovering in front of him.  
“Happy, don’t you remember anything Lucy tried to teach you about manners? You should share,” Natsu said.  
“She was trying to teach you too, ya know.” Happy told Natsu.  
“Yeah well I am actually sharing!” Natsu retorted!  
Lucy rolled her eyes. Who was he to talk about manners when he broke into her house?  
Meanwhile with the rest of team Natsu (Gray, Juvia, Erza, Wendy, and Carla) and team Shadowgear (Levy, Jet, Droy, Gajeel, and Pantherlily) and Lisanna...  
“So, when do you think Natsu, Lucy, and Happy are going to get here?” Gray asked.  
“Gray your shirt!” squealed Levy.  
“Huh?” he looked down “HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?” he was known for having an odd habit of stripping to his underwear, due to his training as a kid. His teacher would force him to get used to the cold by jogging in the snow in just his underwear. Good thing it was only his shirt this time. Juvia was blushing and smiling. She was known for having a crush on Gray…….in fact it was extremely obvious with the stalking and the gray plushies….let’s just leave it there.  
“Gray, don’t you trust Natsu? I for one have complete faith in our comrades,” Erza said.  
“Yeah, but Natsu is known for being reckless and late,” Gray answered, putting on his shirt.  
“I think we should go get Happy, Natsu and Lucy before they miss the train,” said Wendy.   
“No. We don’t need to,” Gajeel said.  
“What makes you say that?” Wendy asked.  
“Salamander and Blondie are at the door” He answered.  
“Hey guys!” shouted Natsu with his classic grin.  
“What took you so long?!” Erza demanded.  
“Well, Lucy took soooooo long yelling at me and Natsu to get out it was hours before we could even mention the job,” Happy said.  
“Don’t exaggerate!” yelled Lucy.  
“And besides, we aren’t even late,” Natsu added.  
“Stop dawdling! We need to get to the train station!” Erza yelled from the door.  
“Aye sir!” Natsu and Gray said in unison with their arms linked. (Though when Erza turned her back they were staring daggers at each other)  
“Oh come on! You two have to stop doing those bad Happy impressions when Erza is around. She’s way less scary than when I first joined the guild,” Lucy said to Gray and Natsu, remembering when she first met the requip mage.  
Later on the train to Hargeon...  
“Whew. We made it,” sighed Lisanna.  
“No thanks to someone” Jet added glancing at Happy and Natsu. Happy had forgotten his fish and he and Natsu had to be dragged onto the train by Erza. Natsu didn’t enjoy transportation due to his motion sickness.  
“The important thing is we should be in Hargeon by 10,” Erza said.  
“Excuse me. We have an announcement,” the conductor said from the speaker lacrima. A lacrima is basically a magic crystal that can be used for different things. “We will not arrive in Hargeon until about 1:30 this afternoon due to some issues with the tracks.”   
“WHAT?!?!?!?!?!” they all shouted.   
“Every one off the train! We are walking to Hargeon!” Erza declared.  
“Yay!” Natsu said childishly while everyone else groaned.  
Thirty minutes later...  
“Are we there yet?” Happy asked for about the fiftieth time.  
“NO!” Everyone shouted in unison.  
“Tomcat, I wish you would stop asking that. We get there when we get there,” Carla said.  
“Yeah, but my wings hurt and I’m hungry,” Happy whined.  
“Suck it up. It will only seem to take longer if you keep complaining,” added Pantherlily.  
“But I want a fishie!” Happy said.  
“Well don’t you always have some with you on jobs?” Pantherlily asked.  
“I forgot them at home this time, remember?” answered Happy.   
“It’s your own fault. You should have remembered them, Tomcat,” Carla said curtly. Happy sulked for the rest of the trip.  
At the edge of Hargeon...  
Finally having reached Hargeon, the wizards checked into the hotel rooms. They paid for three days of use, and two rooms. One for the girls and one for the boys.  
Lucy collapsed onto her bed, Levy was busy reading about Hargeon in the corner.  
“Hey, Lucy?” Levy said.  
“Yeah?”Lucy answered.  
“Didn’t you and Natsu meet here in Hargeon?” Levy asked.  
“Yeah, we did. Natsu had saved me from this guy who was pretending to be ‘the salamander’ from Fairy Tail. Then Natsu, actually being a member of Fairy Tail, brought me back to the guild and I got to join,” Lucy said.   
“Awe. That’s such a sweet story,” Lisanna said smiling. She used to have a crush on Natsu but now… she wanted him and Lucy to get together  
“Yeah, I guess it is,” said Lucy turning slightly pink.  
Meanwhile in the boy’s room...  
“Yo, Salamander. Wake Up!” Gajeel shouted at Natsu from his bed across the room.  
“Why?” Natsu asked.  
“Because your snoring is keeping me awake!” Gajeel answered.  
“Then put in earplugs,” Natsu replied.  
“I tried that. Your snoring is so loud that I bet all of Hargeon can hear it! And don’t even get me started on Happy’s snoring,” said Gajeel.  
“Hey! Nobody messes with my little buddy!” Natsu said menacingly as he and Gajeel lept up.  
“Was that a threat?” asked Gajeel.  
“Maybe it was if you keep insulting Happy,” Natsu replied.  
“Oh yeah? Well it is on! Pantherlily wakeup, Salamander just challenged us,” Gajeel said.  
“What’s going on? Where are my kiwis?” Pantherlily asked, confused.  
“It was a dream furball. Now help me take down Salamander and Happy.” Gajeel said.  
“Hey Ash Brains, Scrap Metal, could’ya keep it down? I’m trying to relax here,” said Gray.  
“YOU WANNA GO ICE PRINCESS?!!” yelled Natsu.  
“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?” yelled Gajeel.  
“I WAS TALKING TO GRAY!” Natsu yelled.  
The Jet and Droy looked at each other, “This is gonna be a long night.”  
Back in the girl’s room...  
“Hey Erza,” Wendy said.  
“Yes Wendy?” Erza replied.  
“I was just thinking how beautiful Hargeon is,” Wendy said.  
“Yes. And they have some of the best strawberry cake too...” Erza said.  
“Oh no what have you started her on now?” Carla asked.  
“I don’t know,” Wendy replied.   
“...and the strawberry cake is so amazing we shall not leave Hargeon until we have tried every single baker’s strawberry cake,” Erza’s eyes were stars.  
“er-Ok Erza. I think I’ll just go to bed now,” Wendy said.  
“Good idea. I shall go to bed as well, we will need energy for our job tomorrow,” Erza said.  
“I wonder what my darling Gray is doing,” Juvia said.  
“Probably sleeping,” Lisanna replied. Juvia had been talking about Gray all afternoon and Lisanna was getting tired of it.  
“I think I’m going to take a walk…” said Lisanna slipping out the door.  
Juvia was in “Gray land” so she didn’t respond.  
Outside...  
Lisanna was walking the route of the parade they were going to follow the next day. I wonder how the others are doing she thought. When she was almost back at the hotel, a large figure jumped out of the shadows.  
Back in the boy’s room...  
“AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”  
“What was that?!” Natsu said alarmed.  
“I don’t know do I?!” Gajeel said.  
“It sounded like someone screaming,” Natsu said.  
“I think it came from outside,” Gray added.  
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go see if everyone’s alright!” Natsu said.  
If anything had happened to Lucy he could never forgive himself.  
Meanwhile in the girl’s room...  
“Did you hear that?” Lucy asked.  
“Yeah. It sounds like it came from outside,” Wendy replied.  
“Oh no! What if my darling Gray is out there?” Juvia asked frantically.  
“I’m pretty sure that was not Gray,” Lucy said flatly.  
“Whoever it was we should go check it out and make sure everyone is safe,” Erza said.  
Outside...  
“What are you doing out here?!” Natsu asked the girls.  
“Same as you. Finding out where that scream came from and what happened,” Lucy replied.  
Natsu was relieved that Lucy wasn’t hurt. But who screamed then? he wondered.  
“Hey Shrimp,” Gajeel said to Levy.  
“What?” Levy asked, annoyed with her nickname from him.  
“Don’t get in the way,” Gajeel said gruffly.  
“And don’t get hurt,” he added as an afterthought, his eyes softening slightly.   
“Ok. um, Thanks...” Levy said, touched by this unusually thoughtful comment from the iron dragon slayer.  
“Hey, er- aren’t we missing someone?” Natsu asked.  
“Yeah, where’s Lisanna?” asked Lucy.  
“I think she said something about going for a walk,” Juvia answered.  
“Do you think that was her screaming?” asked Droy, munching on a chicken leg, he always had food with him, and he seemed to very much love food, as anyone could tell by his size.  
“If it was, then what happened to her?” Jet added. No one knew. Everyone was silent for a few seconds, staring with worried expressions on their faces.  
“Let’s give it until morning, if Lisanna is not back by then we will look for her. Lucy, if she does not come back can Gemini transform into Lisanna?” Erza asked.  
“I don’t think they’ve ever transformed into Lisanna, and they can only transform into people they’ve touched and have equal or less magic power than me,” replied Lucy  
“That’s too bad. I see where Erza was going with that. She wanted Gemini to replace Lisanna in the parade if Lisanna does not come back,” Gray said.  
“Yeah. I got that,” Lucy replied dryly.   
“Captain Obvious…” Natsu muttered.  
The next morning in the girl’s room...  
“Morning,” Lucy said yawning when she woke up. When there was no reply, Lucy looked around. Where is everyone she thought.   
In the boys room...  
Knock knock   
“Hey, that must be Lucy,” Natsu said. “Come on in Lucy.”  
She came in and noticed Wendy, Erza, and Juvia were there with Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, and the exceeds.  
“ERZA, WENDY, JUVIA, CARLA?!?!?! Why are you guys here? And where’s Levy?” Lucy asked, surprised.  
“When we woke up, Lisanna was still gone and Levy was missing. We came here to see if she was with the boys, but she wasn’t. Jet and Droy went looking for Levy,” replied Erza.  
“Why are people disappearing like this?” asked Lucy.  
“I don’t know. But outside our room we found Levy’s headband,” Carla said.  
“Why don’t we ask to check the security lacrimas,” Gray suggested.   
“Yeah,” Wendy agreed.  
“My darling Gray is so smart,” said Juvia.  
“Sure....” Lucy said.  
When everyone else had left, Lucy walked up to Natsu.  
“Are you ok?” she asked.  
“Yeah. I’m just worried the rest of you might disappear on us,” he replied.  
“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere,” Lucy said. “Did Gajeel seem surlier than usual?” she asked changing the subject.  
“Yeah, he did. I wonder what’s wrong,” Natsu answered.  
In the security room...  
Everyone stood around the security lacrima that watched the hallway of the girl’s room. Around 12:35 they saw a stout, hooded figure breaking into the girl’s room, When he came back out Levy was slung over his shoulder.  
“Stop the footage,” Erza said. “Now can you close up on his face?”   
“Sorry, no can do, the camera is zoomed in all the way,” said the suspiciously large head of security, Dai.  
“Well can you make the image any clearer?” asked Gray. “This is an emergency. Two of our friends are missing now and we know from this that Levy was kidnapped, meaning Lisanna probably was too.”  
“I’m sorry but the lacrima cannot be any clearer than it is now,” Dai said.  
“Let’s go. This guy is obviously not much help,” said Gajeel, and with that he stalked off.  
In the boy’s room again...  
“How did none of us hear that break in last night?” Lucy asked.  
“I don’t know but what do we do now?” Wendy asked.  
“I’m going to sniff out Levy and Lisanna and beat up whoever messed with Fairy Tail,” Natsu said, but Erza grabbed the back of his shirt.  
“Hold on Natsu. We need to think of a better plan. We don’t know what we’re up against,” Erza said.  
“Well then, let’s put a tracking device on all of the girls left and whoever this person goes after next will be our ticket to finding them,” suggested Natsu.  
“Yeah? And where do we get these tracking devices Flame Brain?” Gray asked.  
“We need a solid plan.”  
“And this is a solid plan, Ice Breath. I have a tracking device on Lucy already,” Natsu said.  
“WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! YOU PUT A TRACKING DEVICE ON ME?!?!?!” Lucy screamed.  
“Well, yeah I would never forgive myself if something happened to you,” Natsu answered.  
“Natsu…” Lucy was speechless.  
“Cause then I wouldn’t have someone to break into their house, and eat their food.”  
“SO YOU JUST LIKE ME FOR THE APARTMENT AND FOOD!?”  
“Anyway we need a better plan. Why don’t we split up into teams and then go scout the area?” Erza suggested. “Jet and Droy can group up. Me, Wendy, and Gajeel, Juvia and Gray, Natsu and Lucy, and the exceeds.”  
“Aye sir!” Happy said.  
“Sounds good to me. As long as I get to kick the butts of the jerks who messed with Fairy Tail,” Natsu said, cracking his knuckles.  
“Okay here’s what we do, Jet and Droy take the North West, Wendy, Gajeel, and I will take the East, The Exceeds will take the North East, Gray and Juvia will take the Southern end of town, and Natsu and Lucy will take the West,” Erza said. “Any questions?”  
“No, Now let’s get going!” Natsu said.  
In the North West of Hargeon...  
Jet and Droy walked along the road.  
“LEVY! LISANNA!” they called out.  
“Where do you think they are?” Droy asked.  
“I don’t know, but I can use my speed to search the area quickly,” Jet replied.  
In the North East of Hargeon...  
“LISANNA! LEVY!” Happy called.  
“I’ve already told you that’s not going to work, Tomcat. If they’ve been kidnapped they won’t be able to answer us,” Carla said.  
“I know but what if they escaped and can’t find their way back to the hotel?” said Happy.  
“That’s absurd. And if they were lost they would contact us with a communication lacrima,” Carla answered.  
“What if they can’t find a communication lacrima!” Happy shouted back.  
“Would you two stop arguing! We need to focus on finding our friends,” said Pantherlily, munching on a kiwi.  
In the East of Hargeon...  
“Where do you think they are, Erza?” asked Wendy.  
“I don’t know but we just need to keep looking,” Erza replied.  
“YO SHRIMP! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Gajeel shouted.  
“Gajeel, keep it down. If the kidnappers are here and they hear us they will go hide somewhere else,” Erza said.  
“I know. But she promised she wouldn’t get hurt! She promised!” said Gajeel angrily as he punched a wall. They were caught up in their conversation, and failed to notice Wendy stopping to look into a store window.  
“Gajeel, I’m sure she’s fine. We just need to find her,” Erza said. Just then they heard a scream.  
“That sounded like Wendy!” Gajeel and Erza said in unison.  
“WENDY! WHERE DID YOU GO?! WHAT HAPPENED?!” Erza called.  
In the south of Hargeon...  
I can’t believe I was paired up with my darling Gray! Juvia thought.   
“Hey Juvia! Come look at this!” Gray called from the other side of the street. He was looking at a loose board on the door of an old abandoned warehouse. “Do you think Lisanna and Levy are in there?”  
“Maybe…” Juvia replied.  
“I’ll go in first to make sure it’s safe,” Gray said. As soon as he went in he heard muffled screaming.  
“JUVIA!” he cried out. As he ran out the building he saw someone running away carrying Juvia. “Ice make floor!” said Gray. But the person holding Juvia was too well balanced and got away.  
In the West of Hargeon...  
Lucy was watching Natsu from the end of the street. He looked tenser than usual.  
“Hey Natsu. Is everything alright?” Lucy asked tentatively.   
“Yeah,” he said jerking his head back. “I mean besides the fact that Lisanna and Levy are missing, I’m great. Why do you ask?”   
“You just seem really tense and worried,” Lucy said.  
“Well I’m not. I’m totally fine,” Natsu said glancing around nervously. “Why don’t we check that bakery over there.”  
“Wait, Natsu look!” Lucy said, pointing to a hooded figure walking towards them.  
Natsu got in front of Lucy. “If you’re gonna take her, you’ll have to get through me first!” the fire dragon slayer growled, glaring.  
“Relax, I’m not who you think I am,” a familiar voice said. The person removed his hood to reveal blue hair, and a reddish tattoo under the right eye, “Although I’m a bit surprised to see you here, Natsu and Lucy.”  
“Jellal!” Natsu and Lucy shouted, surprised. It had been awhile since they had seen their friends from the crime fighting guild, Crime Sorcière.  
“Yes it’s me but could you keep your voices down? The Magic Council is still looking for me,” Jellal said.  
“Sure but what are you doing here in Hargeon?” Lucy asked.  
“I am here because a dark guild is plotting to attack the mayor at the parade. Meredy and Ultear are here too,” he said.  
“Well you’re wasting your time. The parade was postponed due to members of our guild assigned with protecting the mayor disappearing. We watched a security lacrima and discovered that Levy had been kidnapped so it’s safe to assume Lisanna was too,” Natsu said.  
“You say members of your guild were assigned to protect the mayor, is Erza here too?” Jellal asked.  
“Yeah. Why?” Lucy said.  
“No reason…” Jellal said trailing off at the end. “I had better go look for the others.”  
“Ok, but just so you know Erza is in the East,” Lucy mentioned. When Jellal had left Lucy and Natsu continued their search for Levy and Lisanna.  
Back in the East of Hargeon...  
Erza heard rustling in the bushes.  
“Who goes there?” Erza called.  
“It’s just me,” Jellal said.  
“Jellal! What are you doing here?” Erza asked.  
“Ultear and Meredy are here too. We heard a dark guild plotting to attack the mayor at the parade, but we now know it was postponed. A piece of information I picked up from your friend Natsu,” Jellal said.  
“You saw Natsu and Lucy?” Erza asked.  
“Yes but they said that your guild members were being kidnapped,” Jellal said.  
“They are. Wendy just disappeared too,” Erza said. Gajeel and I split up to look for her but we haven’t found her yet,” Erza replied.  
“I hope you find them soo-,” Jellal stopped suddenly, “Did you hear that?” he asked.  
“Yes. It sounded like footsteps,” Erza said. I’ll check the woods over there,”  
“And I’ll check around this building,” Jellal said.  
In the west again...  
“Natsu. Did you hear that?” Lucy asked.   
“It’s probably just Jellal, Ultear or Meredy,” Natsu said. They decided to ignore it and continue their search. Natsu may think it’s nothing, but I’m not so sure Lucy thought.   
“I’m gonna’ go check it out anyway. Just to make sure,” said Lucy.  
“Alright, just come back safe. I’m going to look over there,” Natsu said. A few seconds later.   
“NATSU! HELP ME!” Lucy screamed.  
“LUCY! I’M COMING!” Natsu shouted. When Natsu arrived Lucy was struggling to free her arms from a man tying her up who looked surprisingly familiar.  
“It’s you! You’re the one who put gramps in the hospital with magic deficiency syndrome!” Natsu growled.  
“Yes it is I, Aria. And I am here for your little girlfriend, oh how sad,” Aria said. He was pretty chubby man, with a bandage covering his eyes, and tears were always coming down his face. He found almost everything sad.  
“I’M NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!” Lucy screamed hiding her blushing face.   
Natsu shouted, “Lucy is like family to me. So is everyone else in Fairy Tail, and when you mess with my family you’re gonna’ get burned.”  
“Natsu…” Lucy said.  
“Fire Dragon ROAR!” Natsu yelled, breathing out a stream of fire.  
“Is that so? Drain!” Aria shouted. “Oh, it’s so sad! We’re losing yet another powerful wizard today,” Aria cried. Natsu suddenly felt like his life force was draining out of him.  
“Aaaahhhh! What are you doing to me?” Natsu stuttered.  
“The same thing I did to Makarov. I’m draining your magical power,” said Aria. “A wizard’s magic is intertwined with their lifetime, the greater a wizard’s power the more devastating the drain spell will be, you have great magic power this will destroy you.” Natsu collapsed and the last thing he saw before he blacked out was Lucy being dragged away by Aria.  
Meanwhile in the East...  
Jellal heard Erza screaming.   
“ERZA! I’M COMING!” he called out. When he arrived and saw Erza lying on the ground covered in bruises, he knew whoever his opponent was going to be was tough. Not many people could go head to head with Fairy Tail’s Titania Erza and even fewer could win.  
“Je-Jellal...” Erza said before passing out.  
“Erza!” Jellal shouted.  
“Well well well, and who might you be?” asked the stout man standing in front of Jellal.  
“You’ll pay for what you did to Erza,” Jellal snarled. “I’ll make you PAY!” What am I saying? Jellal thought to himself I couldn’t even beat Erza. If this guy beat her there’s no way I can beat him.  
“You didn’t answer my question. Who are you?” the man asked again.  
“I am Jellal Fernandes member of the guild Crime Sorcére,” replied Jellal. “Now who are you?”  
“You can call me Dai,” the stranger answered.   
“Well, Dai, let me tell you something,” Jellal said. “Good always wins. I’ve been right where you are, looking for power, but Erza and her friends taught me that I was wrong. Fairy Tail taught me I was wrong. Good always comes through in the end.”  
Dai stood there and laughed as he said, “If good always comes through, then how come I could beat Titania Erza? Answer that for me.”   
Jellal attacked, and the next thing he knew he was on the ground. Dai had deflected his attack with ease. He uses wind and explosion magic? Jellal thought. The battle raged on, Dai seemed to get stronger with every attack. How is this possible? I’m almost out of magic energy. Wait there’s one last spell I can use. Jellal put both hands in front of him, the base of each hand touching, and his palms facing Dia. The fingers of his bottom hand were spread out, where only the middle and pointer finger of his top hand were out. “May the seven stars be your judgment,” he said. His magic was a rare one, and a forgotten one; Heavenly body magic. “GRAND CHARIOT!” seven beams of light shone down from the sky around Dai, forming a constellation. Suddenly the area blew up.   
After the dust settled the surrounding street and buildings were destroyed and Dia was on the ground looking almost dead. Jellal fell to his knees, that’s the last of my magic, but I have to get Erza to the others. He struggled to his feet and limped over to Erza. He picked her up and set her up on his back so it looked he was giving her a piggy back ride. He slowly moved his way to the others.  
After everyone was rounded up outside the hotel...  
“Hey flame brain, you there?” Gray said shaking Natsu’s unconscious body. The others were standing around him looking worried, and Carla was attending to Erza and Jellal's injuries as best as she could.  
Natsu bolted up, “LUCY!” He looked around, “Where’s Lucy? Last thing I saw she was being dragged away!”  
“She was kidnapped, same as Juvia,” Gray said. “Ultear told us what happened. She saw everything and caught your magic when Aria used that drain spell on you. She’s out looking for Lucy, Juvia, and Wendy now.”  
“THIS IS ALL MY FAULT!” Natsu yelled slamming his fist into a wall. “If only I could have protected her better…” Natsu said with tears streaming down his face and splashing on the cobblestone streets.   
“It’s not your fault Natsu. He got Juvia from me, and Wendy from Gajeel and Erza too. And Erza is out of commision thanks to Dai. Jellal said that the one who beat up Erza said to call him Dai,” Gray said.  
“Dai. That name sounds familiar…” Natsu said trailing off. “Wasn’t that the name of the fat security guard who showed us the security lacrima?”  
“Yeah, I think it was,” Happy said.  
“Tomcat I hate to say it but I think you’re right!” Carla said.  
“I think so too!” Pantherlily added.  
“So the security guard is working for a dark guild,” Natsu said.  
“Meredy what do you think we should do?” Gray asked.  
“I think you should come up with a plan yourself,” Meredy said.  
“Sorry about her, she’s cross that we’re staying in one place longer than we usually do. I have to make up for not getting to Erza sooner. If I had she wouldn’t be in this condition,” Jellal said. Erza still had not woken up after Jellal brought her back to the group,   
“I have a plan,” said Droy. Everyone turned their heads to look at Droy, surprised, Droy was not usually the type to think of a plan. “Jet and I will stay behind to look after Erza then you find their base and attack with all our strength. When we’ve gotten rid of the dark guild members, we save the girls.”  
“Sounds like a plan to me!” Natsu said. “I need to tell Lucy I’m sorry I didn’t protect her well enough.” Everyone stood in silence for a few seconds. It was unusual for Natsu to beat himself up over something like this for so long.  
“I think we might know where their base is,” Jellal said breaking the silence. “Crime Sorcière was scouting the area and we found a secret door inside of a barn. I went in and saw hooded men standing around talking about attacking the mayor at an upcoming parade. Since Aria and Dai are targeting the wizards hired to protect the mayor, I bet they’re in that dark guild I heard plotting. I’ll show you where it is,” he said as he struggled to stand.  
“You should stay here, you’re injured,” Meredy said.  
“No I must do this to help them. They’ve helped us before, it’s time to repay that debt.”  
Later in the abandoned barn...  
“The trap door is somewhere on the floor in here,” Jellal said.  
“I think I found something,” Happy said.   
“Happy you found it! The trap door!” Natsu said. “Great job little buddy! Now help me open that door.” They pushed and pushed but couldn’t get the door to open.  
“Idiots. Maybe you should try pulling it,” Gajeel said. Natsu and Happy tried pulling, and the door swung wide open revealing a narrow passageway.   
“How did you know that would work?” Natsu asked Gajeel.  
“Uh cause pushing it didn’t? Why else?” Gajeel said back. “Idiot,” he muttered again as an afterthought.  
“Ohhhhhhhh,” Natsu and Happy said in unison.  
“Now let’s go kick some butt!” Natsu exclaimed while lighting his fist on fire. Everyone followed Natsu and Gajeel down the passage.  
“Stop here, Fire Face,” Gray whispered.  
“Why?” Natsu asked loudly causing a bunch of wizards jumped out at them from the shadows in the room ahead.  
“Because we needed to see if the coast was clear!” Gray said. “Now we have to fight them all!”  
“Fire Dragon Iron Fist!” Natsu shouted as Gajeel shouted, “Iron Dragon Claw!” the group of five wizards went down easily.  
“That was too easy. These guys are wimps compared to Aria,” Natsu said.  
“It seemed a little too easy to get through that passage though,” Gray said.  
“Whatever. Let’s go save the girls!” Natsu said running off.  
“Salamander! Wait!” Gajeel called. Of course, Natsu doesn’t listen to anybody so he just kept running.  
“What do we do now?” Meredy asked.  
“Follow him obviously,” Gray said. “Knowing him he’s going to rush into things and get into trouble.”  
“LUCY!” Natsu shouted, when he came across another hallway. Natsu decided to try that hallway. “LUCY!” he called again.  
“Natsu? Is that you?” a familiar blue haired mage asked.  
“Levy! Do you know where the others are?” Natsu asked.  
“No, but I can help you look if you can get me out of here.” Levy said but Natsu was already gone screaming “LUCY!” again.  
“Natsu wait!” called Jellal with Gajeel, Gray, Meredy, and the exceeds behind him.   
“Look! It’s Levy!” Gray shouted.  
“You guys keep following Natsu and looking for the others. I’ll stay here and work on getting Levy out,” Gajeel said.  
“Fine by me metal head,” Gray said leading the others away. They were soon out of sight.  
“Thank you Gajeel!” Levy said.  
“Don’t get used to it,” Gajeel said, “BUT DON’T GO SCARING ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!” he shouted his face turning red.  
“I’ll try not to,” Levy said blushing slightly, but she still backed away a little.  
“Now let’s get you out of here,” Gajeel said.  
Meanwhile Natsu is running down the halls...  
Natsu turned down another corner where he found Lucy sitting in a cell.   
“Lucy!” Natsu cried. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If I had protected you better you wouldn’t be here.” he said with tears streaming down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”  
“Natsu… It wasn’t your fault,” Lucy said. “It was mine. If I’d been stronger you wouldn’t have needed to protect me. I’m just… just to w-weak,” she buried her face into her knees and started crying.  
Natsu busted into the cell and ran over to Lucy, hugging her, “Lucy don’t cry, you’re not weak. You’re one of our strongest. You have 10 out of the 12 Zodiac keys, you saved Loke, you helped us get passed Erigor’s wind barrier, you helped us on Tenrou when we needed to defeat that weird chubby guy with the voodoo doll. Now that was funny, the Lucy fire, hee hee.”  
Lucy looked up smiling, “Yeah, I guess that was kind of funny. Thanks Natsu. Thanks for always being there for me,” she hugged him back.  
“You don’t have to worry, I’ll always be there for you, you’re important to me. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”  
Lucy was blushing, she understood the deeper meaning of these words even if he didn’t, she still felt touched by his words. “Thanks Natsu, you’re important to me too.” She had finally realized something. The whole time she was in that cell all she could think about was Natsu.  
“Lucy I- I realized something while you were gone… I can’t think straight when you’re hurt. All I want to do is punch anyone who tries to hurt you. I feel sad when I’m not with you... “ he turned red. What if this ruins our friendship? What if she doesn’t like me the way I like her? “Lucy I l-”  
“Hey flame brain there you are. Nice you found L-” he noticed where they were and that they were hugging. Natsu looked annoyed. “Uhhhhh did I interrupt something?”  
Natsu wanted to say, “yes” but instead he said, “No, I was just apologizing to Lucy.” He and Lucy both stood up.  
“Let’s go find the others then,” Gray said.   
“I know where everyone else is except for Levy,” Lucy said.  
“Metal head is with Levy,” said Gray.  
“Ok it’s good to know she’s safe,” Lucy replied.  
“Follow me, Jellal went this way,” Gray said.  
When everyone joined up again except Levy and Gajeel...  
Natsu looked at Lucy.  
“Where’s Lisanna, Juvia, and Wendy?” he asked.  
“We haven’t found them yet Pyro,” Gray said.  
“I was talking to Lucy, Ice Princess,” Natsu retorted.  
“Well if I’m remembering correctly Juvia is a few halls down, and Lisanna is close by with Wendy in the same hallway,” Lucy said.  
“Let’s split up and go get different people,” Jellal suggested. “Gray and the exceeds go to free Juvia, Natsu and Lucy will go to free Lisanna and Wendy. Meredy and I will go find Gajeel and Levy.”  
“Aye sir!” said Happy.  
With Levy and Gajeel...  
“Hey Gajeel,” Levy said. They were walking down a dark hallway; Levy providing light due to her solid script magic (magic that has words that become what they are.) and Gajeel following his sense of smell. (all dragon slayers have heightened senses.)  
“What is it Shrimp?” he asked. He tried not to look down. When they first started walking he had smelled blood mixed in with her scent. He had also noticed that she had a number of injuries. Just thinking about it made him beyond mad.  
“You seem on edge. Is something wrong?” she asked, concerned.   
Man that was cu- wait what… did I just.. “No I’m fine,” he said gruffly.  
“Please don’t lie to me. I know you’re upset. You look more grumpy than usual.” She was met with silence. She worried she had upset him, completely unaware the dragon slayer’s thoughts were a jumble of emotions. “Gajeel?” she was met with more silence. She started to tear up. “I-I’m sorry if I upset you I-I just… but please just talk to me,” she started crying.  
Gajeel looked down, alarmed to see Levy crying, “Hey wait please don’t cry! I’m sorry Levy, I just got lost in thought. I’m sorry I should be more open to you. I just… I just don’t see how you could stand to be near me after how we met… I’ve been trying to make up for it, but I just feel like I’m losing you instead.” They stopped walking.   
Levy looked up, he had called her by her name, “‘Gajeel….. I’ve already forgiven you. I’ve beyond forgiven you in fact I’ve fallen in l-” she slapped her hand over her mouth. While she hadn’t finished the last word, Gajeel already knew what she was going to say.   
He pulled her into a hug, and buried his head into her hair, “Levy, I’ve been doing all this because…. I feel the same, you’ve been the one to put a crack in my iron heart. I’ve fallen in love with you too.”   
With Gray, Juvia, and the exceeds...  
“Juvia!” Gray called when he saw her sitting in the prison cell at the end of the hall.  
“Gray my love is that you?!” Juvia cried. “I knew you would come to save me!”  
“Juvia, I’m sorry!” Gray burst out.  
“For what?” Juvia asked confused.  
“I should have been paying more attention. If I had I could have stopped this from happening,” Gray said looking down.  
“It’s not your fault it’s Atlas Nightmare’s fault,” Juvia said.  
“Who is Atlas Nightmare?” Gray asked.  
“That’s the name of the dark guild who captured all of us,” Juvia replied.   
“They are going down!” Gray growled. Gray froze all of the bars on the cell door and broke them down. Juvia walked out of the cell limping.   
“Juvia! What happened?” Gray asked frantically.  
“Nothing,” she answered.  
“Nothing?! You’re limping! What did they do?!” Gray exclaimed.  
“I just hurt my leg trying to escape. It’s nothing, really,” Juvia answered before her leg gave and she collapsed.  
“Juvia!” Gray shouted. “Here, I’ll carry you on my back.” Gray said as he lifted Juvia onto his back piggyback style. Juvia blushed and fainted.   
“You like each other!” Happy jidded.   
With Natsu and Lucy...  
“Natsu,” Lucy said.  
“Yeah Luce?” Natsu replied.  
“What were you going to say earlier? Before Gray interrupted us,” Lucy asked.  
“I-” Natsu started, blushing, “I wasn’t saying anything.”  
“Are you sure about that?” Lucy asked. “It sounded like ‘I l-’ and then you were cut off.”  
“Ohhh. That. I was going to say... “ Natsu thought for a moment, What if this ruins our easy friendship? “That I like pizza!” Natsu said blushing furiously.  
“Ok. I like pizza too,” Lucy said. I know that’s not what he really was going to say, I’ll ask him later. She thought as Natsu was thinking I’ve got to tell her the truth, she obviously doesn’t believe me. Just then they came across Wendy’s cell.  
“Natsu! Lucy!” Wendy called out.  
“Open gate of the lion! Loke!” Lucy said using her gate key. Loke was the false name Leo the lion used when he was banishedl from the spirit world. He joined Fairy Tail and later was saved from dying by Lucy and is now able to be Leo but everyone still calls him Loke.  
“Hello there Lucy, you’re looking as beautiful as usual,” Loke said, with a wink.  
Natsu punched him in the face and sent him flying into a wall.  
“Natsu what was that for?!” Lucy screamed running over to help her friend up.  
“Lucy!? Is everything okay? I thought I heard you yell at Natsu!” Wendy said. Her cell was a closed in one, no door just walls. Solid walls, except for a small window, too high for Wendy to see out of.  
“Nothing just Natsu being an idiot and wanting to pick a fight with Loke. Alright Wendy, stand back, Loke’s gonna break down the wall.”   
“REGULUS IMPACT!” Loke yelled while punching the wall. The wall crumbled.   
“I could have done that faster and easier, you didn’t need to call on him,” Natsu grumbled, slouching so his scarf covered his mouth.  
Oooooo someone’s jealous Loke thought. “Well I’ll be going now, I have a date to go to,” he said. He glowed and then disappeared with a pop. Wendy rushed out of her cell and gave Lucy a hug.  
“Lucy! Why are you covered in bruises?!” Wendy cried.  
“Not all of us have heal super quickly you know,” Lucy said dryly, wincing slightly at Wendy’s hug.  
“Let me heal you!” Wendy said using her unnamed healing spell.  
“Thanks Wendy,” Lucy said. Natsu seemed unusually grumpy. Maybe I should talk to him “Hey Wendy? Do you mind scouting ahead? I want to talk to Natsu privately.” Wendy nodded and walked off. Natsu sat down on the ground his scarf covering everything up to his eyes. “Hey Natsu are you ok?” she said sitting next to him. It was cold there and Natsu, being pretty much made of fire, gave off lots heat. Almost subconsciously Lucy leaned on him.  
“What’s going on between you and Loke? Every time you summon him he has some flirty compliment to give you.”  
Lucy was shocked, he never asked stuff like this, and moreover he knew she didn’t like it, “Natsu… you know there’s nothing between him and me. And so what, even if there was why would you care? I have free choice don’t I? That’s why I left home, because I didn’t have free choice.”  
Natsu sighed, “I’m sorry, I just… get angry when I see other guys…. flirting with you. I think it’s because… I- I,” he turned red.  
Lucy giggled knowing what he was trying to say. For awhile now she had realized she had feelings for him, so knowing he had feelings for her…. “You what?” she said smirking.  
Natsu blushed even harder, “I love you.” He mumbled.   
Lucy had heard him but… “What was that? You what?”  
Natsu felt his face burning, “I SAID I LOVE YOU!” He then buried his face in his scarf, blushing furiously. What if I screwed it up? What if- he then felt Lucy’s familiar arms wrap around him as Lucy said, “I love you too.”  
Just then Wendy came back into the room. “Hey guys! I found Lisanna’s cell-…”  
Both the Celestial Wizard and the Dragon Slayer jumped away from each other, both blushing.   
“Oh uh Wow that’s heh heh great uh heh heh heh..!” Natsu said nervously.  
“Ya let’s uh go uh save her hee hee,” Lucy said with nervous laughter. Wendy just looked at them like are you okay? Do you need help?  
“Are you two alright?” Wendy asked.  
“Yeah we’re fine! Why wouldn’t we be?!” Natsu said with his voice rising in pitch at the end of each sentence.  
“Yeah we’re great,” Lucy said.  
“Well if you’re sure…” Wendy said.  
“Yep. Yes. Totally sure.” Lucy said.  
“Let’s go save Lisanna…” Natsu said. When they got to Lisanna’s cell they found Erigor waiting for them.  
“Wait, he wasn’t here before!” Wendy cried.  
“Erigor! But I already beat you twice! And Wendy beat you once too!” Natsu exclaimed.  
“Yes, well, I’ve gotten a lot stronger since the last time you beat me,” Erigor said.  
“What about when I beat you after that?” Wendy asked.  
“That was a fluke. You just gave me my memories back,” Erigor said. “Anyway I’m going to defeat you all at once!” Erigor exclaimed.  
“Fire Dragon…”  
“Sky Dragon…”  
“ROAR” Natsu and Wendy said in unison.  
Erigor flew backwards. “Nice try! STORM BRINGER!” he shouted.  
Wendy jumped in front of the attack and ate the wind.  
“I forgot she could do that,” Erigor said.  
“Sky Dragon ROAR!” Wendy shouted. And with that Erigor was knocked out. Lucy had freed Lisanna during the battle and the two girls were now hugging.  
“Thankyou Lucy! You too Wendy. Oh and I guess you too Natsu,” Lisanna said. Then she whispered in Natsu’s ear, “So, Natsu have you confessed to Lucy yet?”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Natsu replied blushing furiously. “Now let’s go find the others.”  
“I can’t wait to tell Mira!” Lisanna squealed.  
“Don’t you dare,” Natsu growled.   
Lisanna giggled, “Oh Natsu… there’s no need to be embarrassed.”  
Meanwhile Lucy seemed to be understanding the situation. “Hey guys? We should get going.”  
Lisanna whispered in Natsu’s ear, “Saved by your girlfriend.” Wendy just looked extremely confused.  
Back at the hotel...  
Erza opened her eyes, her head hurt like crazy.  
“Erza you’re finally awake!” said Jet, walking over to her bed. “How are you feeling?”  
“My head hurts and I can still feel the pain of my injuries. Do you know where the others are?” she asked. More importantly she wanted to ask about a certain person who had saved her. It made her think back to when she was a kid in the Tower of Heaven when Jellal had saved her back then too. “Bring me to them.”  
“But Erza you’re not strong enough yet,” Jet said.  
“I’m fine. And besides I need to help them, and warn them about Aria, Dai said somethings about him during our fight,” she said.  
“They already know. Natsu had his magic drained by Aria when Lucy was kidnapped-” Jet started.  
“They got Lucy! What happened to Natsu? That spell can be devastating, remember what happened to the Master?” Erza said frantically.  
“It’s okay Erza. Natsu’s fine. Ultear collected his powers and Natsu got them back before anything really bad happened to him,” Jet said. “And everyone just went looking for Lucy, Levy, Lisanna, Juvia, and Wendy.”  
“I still have to go help them. Aria is a lot stronger than he was when we faced Phantom,” Erza said.  
“Stronger?! That guy was already a powerhouse! How could he have gotten stronger?!” Jet exclaimed.  
“That’s why I have to go help them. I at least have to warn them. Please bring me to them.” Erza pleaded.  
“Ok,” Jet gave in. “Droy stay here in case the others come back while we’re gone.”  
When the others grouped up again...  
“Hey Scrap Metal! Ice Princess! We found Lisanna and Wendy!” Natsu said with a grin.  
“That’s great! I found Juvia!” Gray said.  
“Well I’ve got Shrimp here,” Gajeel said resting his arm on Levy’s head.  
“That’s great but now we need to focus on getting out,” Jellal said.  
“Aye sir!” Happy said.   
Just then Jet came speeding down the hallway with Erza.  
“Look out!” Jet called.  
“Erza! What are you doing here?!” Natsu said. “You took too much of a beating from Dai in your last fight to be here right now!”  
“There’s something you should know about Aria. He’s a lot stronger than he was when we faced phantom. And back then I could barely beat him. Apparently he took out the wizard who held number 1 on the ten wizard saints,” Erza said. Everyone stared in silence.  
“Then what do we do?” Gray asked.  
“We go kick his butt!” Natsu said.  
“NO!” Erza said. “He’s too powerful! You’ll be destroyed! Especially if Dai is with him.”  
As soon as the words came out of her mouth Aria appeared with Dai and an army of soldiers. Juvia got off of Gray’s back.  
“Run!” Erza screamed. But it was too late, Dai had already trapped them in a wind barrier.  
“No I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere,” Dai said.  
“Oh it’s so sad. Many great wizards are about to be lost,” Aria said while crying.  
“You’re still cryin’ like a baby,” Gajeel said.  
“Why Aria?” Juvia asked. “Why are you doing this?”  
“I can’t believe that two members of Phantom would stoop so low as to join Fairy Tail,” Aria said in disgust.  
“I can’t believe you would attack people who were your comrades,” Juvia said.  
“Well believe it,” Dai said “Because he did.”  
“You left me no choice,” Aria said while still crying, “You sided with the enemy!”  
“The enemy?! We attacked Fairy Tail first! If anything they should be angry with us! But they forgave Gajeel and I, they welcomed us with open arms, they’ve been nothing but kind to us!” Juvia shouted. “If you think Fairy Tail is your enemy then, I guess we’re your enemy too. We are PROUD to be members of Fairy Tail! I used to think that only the people in Phantom accepted me, then I joined Fairy Tail and felt true acceptance for the first time ever! You may have willingly worked with me, but I never felt like part of a family. That’s how Fairy Tail treats every single member. Like FAMILY!” Juvia was enraged, she loved Fairy Tail, more than she loved anything (except Gray).  
“Well that’s too bad because I want revenge on Erza Scarlet and her guild. They destroyed Phantom and she was the only one who ever beat me,” Aria said, sobbing now.  
“That’s what this is about?!” Erza cried out. “Me beating you one time, that’s what this is about?! That’s such a petty reason. But if it will save my friends I’m willing to hand myself over.” Erza could see Aria was too powerful to fight with and make it out with everyone alive and in one piece.  
“ERZA NO YOU CAN’T!” Jellal, Natsu, and Gray yelled, while the girls held them back and started crying. Erza was like a big sister to them all, where Jellal was Erza’s first friend and… lover.   
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine because I know you will all be safe,” Erza said quietly. “I need to do this to make sure you all escape.”  
“No you don’t! We can fight them together!” Natsu shouted. “We can’t lose you. I didn’t let you sacrifice yourself for us in the Tower of Heaven, what makes you think I’ll let you now?”  
“Lucy, take care of him for me ok? And girls, it’s your job to keep the boys in line.” The girls were still crying but nodded, unlike the boys they could understand why Erza would do this, why she felt she needed to sacrifice herself.  
“Natsu, you’ll let me do this because, well, this time, I’m not dying. I won’t. Here’s something for you to remember. The place that has moved on, but holds memories will always be important. Now Jet, Jellal, get them out of here. You too Happy, Carla, and Lily.”  
“Awwwww. It’s so sad. But I’ll agree to your terms Erza Scarlet. If you come with me your friends can go free,” Aria said still crying. “Dai, lift the barrier.” When the barrier was lifted, everyone stood still.  
“Go!” Erza shouted. Jet took off with Levy and Juvia, while the exceeds carried their partners.  
“Erza!” Natsu shouted as Happy dragged him out, “Don’t you dare die on us!”  
“I won’t Natsu!” Erza called.  
“Goodbye Erza. I’ll come back for you someday,” Jellal said before leaving with Meredy. Erza smiled knowing there was truth in his words.  
The last thing the others saw of her was Erza facing the army of enemies, tears down her cheeks and a smile on her face…


	2. Lost and Found

It’s three months after that fateful day when the brave Erza Scarlet, the Queen of the Fairies, gave herself up to save her friends. The guild seemed oddly quiet and subdued without the re-quip mage. On the other hand, Crime Sorciére became part of Fairy Tail until they got Erza back. Jellal under the alias Jake, dyed his hair black and wears a mask, he learned new chemical magic, earning him the name “The masked mad man of Fairy Tail.”   
Meredy took the name Mary and dyed her hair purple and learned rock make magic, earning her the name “The Violet Mason.”  
Lastly Ultear is using the name Vanessa and dyed her hair white and learned a variety of magic, earning her the name “The queen of all magic”  
Their team was called The Witch’s Crime.  
Gajeel and Levy started openly dating, telling the whole guild about what happened. Where as Natsu and Lucy kept their dating secret. Carla also seemed to open up to Happy, and the said blue exceed spent most of his time with his new girlfriend.  
It was Midnight when Lucy, sleeping on her couch, was woken by crying. It wasn’t the first time. Lately, something like this would happen, because Natsu had started having nightmares, and started sleeping at her house.   
The blonde stood up and walked over to the bed, sitting down next to the hunched over crying dragon slayer. “Natsu, what was it about this time?” she asked, running her hand through his hair.  
He looked up, “It was the same thing as always… it was you being taken with Erza and then… killed.” He started crying harder and buried his face into Lucy’s chest, wrapping his arms around her. “I don’t want to lose you too,” he whispered.  
Lucy embraced him back, “You won’t, I promise. I won’t die.”  
She could almost feel the dragon slayer’s smile as he fell asleep, still hugging her. Soon after, she also fell asleep, still hugging him too.  
The next morning the pair woke up to, “OOOOOOO you liiiiike each other~.”  
“HAPPY!” they both yelled sitting up.   
“We didn’t know you were coming here this early,” said Lucy. She then noticed Natsu staring at her. “What?!”  
“I think we should tell him. It’s not like everyone else will know.”  
~Meanwhile at wendy and carla’s room at Fairy Hills~  
Carla gasped and sat up, she had just had a vision. Those were normal for her due to her heritage.  
Wendy looked over at her friend, “Are you ok Carla?”  
“Yes, I’m fine I just had a vision, a very happy one in fact!” she said smiling.   
~Back to Natsu, Lucy, and Happy~  
“WHAT!?” Lucy screamed.  
“Tell me what~?” Happy asked.  
“It will be easier if we do. I’m not saying we have to tell everyone now, we will when you’re ready, but we should tell Happy, he’s my best bud,” Natsu said.  
“Fine,” Lucy said, finally agreeing. She knew Natsu was holding out on telling every one because of her, so she felt like she should let him do this. “Well Happy, me and Natsu are secretly dating, but please don’t tell anyone.”  
“Or I’ll burn your fish,” Natsu added  
Happy's eyes were stars, “I knew it you do liiiike each other. And I promise I won’t tell anyone, but Carla probably already knows with her visions so I’m going to go to talk to her~!” With that he flies off and the remaining coupled sighs.  
“Do you think we made the right choice?” Lucy asked looking up at her boyfriend from his arms.  
“Yeah, I think we did, now let’s sleep for a little longer,” he said, then kissed the top of Lucy’s head. Lucy nodded and they both snuggled back into bed.  
~At the dark guild Atlas Nightmare~  
It was a dark dungeon, down the hall water was heard dripping. There was little light, save for a single torch, that illuminated a body tied to a chair and a woman sitting in front. A worker came from one of the adjacent hallways.  
“Boss, where do you want these packages?” asked the worker.  
“In my office, Dai, I’ll get to those later. Who are they? What guild” asked the woman.  
“Ichiya I think and the Trimen from Blue Pegasus.”  
“Well then, you see to them, we can’t risk blowing my cover, and I don’t want to deal with those creeps. I’ve dealt with them enough. Master will give you your next targets later. Let me finish up with this one.”  
Dai moved the body bags he was carrying down the opposite hallway from the one he came from. The woman turned to the man tied to the chair.  
“What’s the news on Fairy Tail?” Titania asked.  
“They’re still looking for you,” he said.  
“Good, it’s time I reunite with them.”  
The next day at the Guild  
“Gray-sama! Juvia wants to go on a mission with Gray-sama!” Juvia said while clinging to Gray. She seemed to cling to him more ever since that mission when they all got captured and Gray saved her.   
“Juvia, if I go will you stop clinging to me?” asked an annoyed Gray. Once again Gray’s clothes had…. Disappeared. The blue haired water mage was blushing.  
“Gray sama! Your clothes, and yes Juvia will only if Gray sama comes on a mission with Juvia.”  
“Fine, I’ll go, do you have one picked out?”  
“Yes Gray-sama, Juvia picked the perfect mission. Gray sama and Juvia are going to a tropical island on a job house sitting for a couple who recently got married. The job is to stay and live at the cottage until they come back from their honeymoon next month.”  
What have I gotten myself into…. Gray thought, “Great Juvia why don’t we head out now?”  
“Yes Gray-Sama! Juvia already has our bags packed!”  
Gray sighs and they walk out of the guild, telling Mirajane where they were going. Just as they left, Natsu and Lucy came in.  
“Hey Pervy Popsicle, going on a date?” Natsu teased.  
“Shut it Flame Brain!” Gray yelled, and Juvia pulled him off.  
Lucy turned to Natsu and said, “Wonder where they’re going.”  
“Don’t matter. Probably a mission. We here to get one ourselves right?”  
Lucy nodded and walked up to the request board. She found a mission similar to Juvia and Gray’s but it was a house in the mountains, where there was snow. “How bout this one?” she asked.  
“Perfect!” responded Natsu. He walked up to Mira, “We’ll take this one.”   
Mira nodded, “Not taking Happy?” Natsu shook his head. She raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Alright then, I’ll let Happy know.”  
“Thanks Mira!” Natsu said giving his adorable signature smile. He grabbed Lucy’s hand and dragged her out the door.  
“Did you see that Mira?” Lisanna asked smiling, her eyes shining.  
“Yep! When do you think he’s going to propose?” Mira asked, still smirking.  
Lucy and Natsu  
“Hey Luce?” Natsu asked, “Are you done packing yet? I want to get going.” Natsu was hanging upside down off of Lucy’s bed.  
“Almost,” Lucy answered, “Which one do you like better?” she asked Natsu holding up two sweaters, one was pink with a gate key on it and one was plain blue.  
“I like them both,” Natsu answered, “You look great no matter what!” he said grinning and flipping rightside up.  
“Thanks Natsu,” Lucy said blushing slightly as natsu walked towards her. Natsu wrapped his arm around Lucy and pulled her into a hug. He whispered in her ear, “I love you, Lucy” Natsu stroked her hair. “Just pack both of them.”  
“Okay,” Lucy said. “Now let’s get going!” Lucy said grinning.  
“I just wish we didn’t have to take the train,” Natsu said, turning green.  
“It’s ok Natsu. You can sleep on my lap the whole way,” Lucy said rubbing Natsu’s back.  
Juvia and Gray  
“Gray-Sama! Juvia sees Natsu-sama and love rival!” Juvia said.  
“Really? They’re at the train station too? Great they must be going on our train then. Why don’t we invite them to sit with us?” Gray said.  
“Gray-sama, That sounds like a great idea! Just don’t flirt with love rival!” Juvia threatened.  
“Believe me, I won’t. OI FLAME BRAIN, LUCY OVER HERE!” he shouted.  
The salamander and the blonde mage walked over to Gray and Juvia. “Hey Gray, hey Juvia! Are you here for your mission too?” Lucy asked.  
“Yeah, and we were going to invite you to sit with us on the train until we get to our stops.”  
“Sounds great.”  
“All aboard the train to Akane resort and Northern Fiore!” yelled to the conductor.  
“Looks like the train’s here,” said Lucy. Natsu turned green and tried to run away, but was stopped by Lucy, who dragged him on the train. The team of four sat at in the back of the train. The train started to move and as usual, Natsu slumped over and looked like he was going to puke. Lucy laid him down so his head was in her lap.   
OOOOOO Natsu-sama and love rival! If I push love rival on Natsu-sama then Gray-sama will be mine! Juvia thought. Her smile was showing and Gray noticed.  
“What’s that smile for?” he asked.  
“Nothing, Gray-Sama! Juvia’s just happy you’re going on a mission with her.”  
Gray smiled, “Well, I figured since you always ask me, this once I’ll do it.”  
The rest of the trip was taken in silence. Lucy managed to fall asleep, while the others stayed awake. Soon they arrived at Akane. Gray and Juvia got off, leaving Natsu and Lucy on the train. Lucy woke up as they were leaving. They waved good-bye, and the train moved to the next stop. Lucy and Natsu got off and pulled their luggage behind them. The villagers pointed them towards the house they were supposed to stay at and soon, after walking through a snowstorm, they arrived.  
“OH! It’s beautiful!” Lucy gasped, staring at the house. It was brick house with a gorgeous chimney and lot’s of windows.  
“Let’s get inside, and I’ll start a fire,” Natsu said opening the door. He walked over to the fireplace, lit his hand on fire, and lowered it into to wood, starting a fire.  
Lucy started to unpack and Natsu left. She walked into the living room and wondered where he went, when he finally walked in with snow in his hair.   
“Natsu, I have to ask… why are we going on a job now? I’m sorry I just thought of this now. But shouldn’t we be out looking for Erza?” she said. She sat down on the couch.  
Natsu walked over and joined her, pulling her onto his lap and laying down, “I picked this job because it gives us time to look for her. I heard rumors that she was last seen here. Don’t worry, I’ll get our friend back.”  
Lucy smiled up at the dragon slayer, “Thanks.” she said snuggling into him.  
~Juvia and Gray~  
“Gray-sama! Come on! Juvia is excited to get there,” Juvia said grinning.  
“Coming,” Gray called, lugging his and Juvia’s suitcases behind him. When they got to the cottage they were house sitting, Juvia walked in and sighed.  
“Isn’t it cozy Gray-sama? Juvia thinks it is. Oh look there is only one bedroom!” she said acting surprised. “I guess we’ll have to share!”  
“There is a couch. I can sleep in here,” Gray said.  
Juvia started pouting and looking down at the hardwood floor, it was decorated with rugs that had beautiful patterns and colors.   
“But Juvia will be lonely without Gray-sama,” Juvia whined persistently.   
“Juvia, don’t forget, this is not a date or a vacation. It is a job,” Gray said putting down the suitcases. “We should go unpack.”  
“Okay,” Juvia said gloomily, shuffling towards the bedroom.  
“Tomorrow we need to stock up on food supplies,” Gray said. “Do you want to come with me?”  
“Yes! Juvia would love to go with Gray-sama! She replied excitedly.  
“Why did I even have to ask?” Gray said to himself.  
~Erza~  
“Master I’m here as requested,” Erza said with a bow. She hid her disgust by remembering her friends.  
“Thank you Erza,” said Aria. “You may rise.”  
Erza stood up straight. I’m only pretending to work for him. It’s to get my friend’s back. Remember that. She thought.  
“Your next mission is to take out Makarov,” Aria said. Erza’s pulse quickened Why him?  
“But, he’s one of the ten wizard saints!” Erza said trying to find an excuse.  
“And you’re the mighty Titania Erza. You can defeat him. Are you unwilling to take this challenge? Do you still hold allegiance to him?”  
Oh that scheming son of a jerk, Erza thought. “No master. I do not hold allegiance to him,” she said instead, the words hard to get out.  
“Good. You leave tonight.”  
“Understood”  
~Back with Salamander and Blondie~  
Natsu woke up on the couch, alone. Where Lucy had been was cold, meaning she hadn’t been there for a while. He looked around the room, panicking. Where is she? Where’d she go? Did Atlas Nightmare take her again? “Lucy?” he called out, standing up.  
“Finally Natsu! You’re awake. I made breakfast!” Lucy said walking in with two plates of pancakes.   
Natsu stood up and hugged her. He was constantly paranoid but he tried to hide it. “Thanks!” he said. He took a plate from her and sat on the couch.  
Lucy joined him, “So do you wanna look for Erza today? Or do you want to do something else?” she asked.  
“Well I heard a rumor that some time later this week Atlas Nightmare is coming to the nearby town and is going to try to take over a wizard guild. I was going to storm into their base and look for Erza, then help free the guild. So we don’t need to look for Erza today. I had something planned to do with you anyway,” he responded. He started eating his food.  
Lucy stopped chewing and raised her eyebrows at him, “Oh yeah?” It was unusual for him to do something like this.  
“Yeah! We don’t get to spend a lot of time together as just us so I wanted to bring you somewhere,” he said, smiling his adorable smile.  
Lucy smiled back, she loved his thoughtfulness, and his smile. “Sounds good I’ll go get dressed.”  
“Alright. Hey can I finish your food?”  
Lucy giggled, “Sure.” When Lucy was dressed and Natsu was finished eating, Natsu brought Lucy to the nearby town of Shirotsume.  
“Okay Luce,” Natsu said, “I found a hidden beach near an amazing Waterfall, it’s all frozen, but I can keep us warm. I don’t think anyone knows about it so, we’re going to bring a picnic lunch and spend the whole morning there, just you and me.” Natsu kissed the top of Lucy’s head. Lucy smiled at Natsu. “Let’s go!” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along.  
Lucy laughed. She loved her boyfriends energy and cuteness. About 10 minutes later they stopped at a cave. Natsu led Lucy through the cave and it opened up to a cove with a frozen waterfall. Lucy gasped, “It’s beautiful.”  
“Just like you,” Natsu said, leading her to a blanket with food.  
“When did you have time to do this?” Lucy asked.  
“Remember when I left last night?”  
“You did all of this last night?”  
“It’s for our three month anniversary.”  
“Thank you Natsu!” Lucy squealed hugging him.   
~With Gray and Juvia~  
Gray and Juvia were walking through town. Shops lined the streets; some selling clothes, food, supplies, and there was even a pet store. Gray was wearing no shirt and shorts, while juvia was wearing a spaghetti strap, short dress. There weren’t a lot of people on the streets, since they would be at the nearby water park. Juvia was clinging to Gray’s arm, and was surprised he didn’t pull away. Maybe this means Gray-sama finally loves Juvia! The water mage thought. Gray looked slightly uncomfortable so Juvia let go. Gray was slightly relieved, because it meant he didn’t have to upset her. He continued walking and failed to notice Juvia had stayed back to look for a new swimsuit. He got to a market to buy food and turned to ask Juvia what she wanted, and then realized she was missing. “Juvia?” he called out as he turned around. Gray spotted Erza walking down the street. “ERZA!!!!!!!!!!” he cried.   
“Gray!” Erza gasped and ran away. She looked back and saw Gray chasing her.  
“Erza! Wait how did you get away?” he called. Erza took a deep breath and turned around.  
“I didn’t get away…” she said.  
“What do you mean? And what’s that on your arm?” Gray asked.  
“My guildmark. I joined Atlas Nightmare.”   
Gray’s jaw dropped. “WHAT!!!!!!” he shouted. Erza started running again, Gray was too stunned to follow her.  
“What’s wrong Gray-sama?” Juvia asked from behind Gray.  
“Juvia! Where did you come from?” Gray asked snapping out of his shock.  
“Juvia stopped to buy a new swimsuit,” she answered. Suddenly Gray hugged her.  
“I was worried about you. I thought Atlas Nightmare had come back for you. Then when I saw Erza-”  
“You saw Erza-san!” Juvia exclaimed.  
“Yeah, but she was acting really weird. She said she joined Atlas Nightmare.” Gray said his face going dark.  
“Erza-san would never do that! J-Juvia has faith in Erza-san!” Juvia said.  
“I would never have believed it if I hadn’t heard it myself,” Gray said.  
“Gray-sama, Juvia thinks Gray-sama should tell Natsu-sama and Love Rival,” Juvia said.  
“Why just them? We have to tell the whole guild,” Gray said. “Everyone needs to know about this but I want the Old Man’s opinion before telling anyone else about this.”   
“Okay if Gray-sama says so Juvia won’t say anything…” Juvia said uncertainly.   
~With Erza~  
Erza looked over her shoulder to see if she had lost Gray. When she was sure she was alone, she pulled out a communication lacrima.  
“My cover may have been compromised,” she said speaking into the crystal.  
“What do you mean?” Aria’s voice came from the lacrima.  
“I was spotted by Gray Fullbuster and he caught up to me seeing my guildmark. There was nothing I could do, so I ran while he was distracted.” Erza said.  
“We will have to do something about him,” Aria said. “I will send Dai to spy on him. If he gets in the way again Dai will stop him.”  
“Of course Master,” Erza said. This means I may have to tell the others sooner than planned Erza thought. Aria hung up. Erza continued on her way back to Fairy Tail.  
~At Fairy Tail~  
At the end of the day, Mira was washing tables, a few members remained, and the master was talking to Gajeel and Levy.  
“Master, why did you call us in?” Levy asked.  
“I called you both in here because I have a mission for you. I’ve heard reports of people seeing Erza, the last being in Clover. I’m sending you o-”  
They were interrupted by the communication lacrima flashing. Gajeel walked over and turned it on. Gray and Juvia appeared in the screen, looking scared, shocked, and upset. “Well if it isn’t Ice Boy, what can I do for you?” Gajeel teased.  
“I need to talk to Master right now Bolts,” Gray said, ignoring Gajeel’s comment.  
“I’m here boy,” Master makarov said reaching the lacrima.  
“Master….. I’ve found Erza.”  
Everyone just stares at him.  
“According to Gray-sama, Erza-san said that she was part of Atlas Nightmare now! But Juvia thinks Erza-san was lying!” Juvia said. She hated going against Gray but she couldn’t believe this.  
“Yes and then she ran off. Maybe she’s going undercover, but I wanted to let you know then you could decide whether to tell the guild. I trust your judgement and leave this in your hands,” Gray said. Then the lacrima went blank.  
“Very troubling indeed,” Makarov said.  
“Master I think we shouldn’t tell the guild! Maybe Erza really is going undercover and we might blow it,” Levy said.  
“I agree with shrimp, that she might be going undercover, but I think you should decide,” Gajeel said.  
Master nodded. “I’ll talk to Porlyusica.”  
Gajeel and Levy nodded. “Do you still want us to check it out?” Gajeel asked.  
“Yes. Now more than ever,” the master said “And should you run into Erza, make sure to ask what’s going on.”  
“Of course Master,” Levy said.  
“You are dismissed,” Makarov said.   
~With Erza~  
She finally came into view of the guild hall. It looked the same as last time, but the streets of Magnolia were different. People whispered as she walked down the road. Some pointed, some ran. Others just stared. Erza started to get nervous about all the attention she was receiving, but she kept walking. When she reached the doors she threw them open, and as usual there was a fight… but where was Natsu and Gajeel? She knew Gray was out with Juvia but where were the usual trouble makers. She pushed the door aside and walked in, soon people began to notice her presence. Mirajane was at the bar with a forced smile.  
“Hello Erza, long time no see,” She said.  
Erza nodded, “Where’s Master? I need to speak with him.”  
“What about?”  
“It’s personal.”  
“Right… I’ll go get him.”  
“No bring me to him.”  
“Okay…” Mira said as she led Erza to the master’s office. She knocked on the door and was met with a “Come in” and left Erza to do her business.   
Erza walked in, and Makarov fell of his chair, “Erza!”  
“Yes it’s me. Is anyone listening?” Erza asked.  
“No. No one should be.”  
“Good. Listen master, I haven’t really joined Atlas Nightmare. I’ve pretended to join so I could destroy them from the inside out. I’ve learned things. They’re capturing wizards and draining their magic for something. I have no idea what it is. Aria is the master, they have an army ready to go. I believe they’re planning an all out war. Every time they go after a guild, I warn that guild without getting caught. I’m in control of a small section of the army.”  
Makarov was shocked, why now? What about those three months? Makarov was about to ask when Erza spoke again.  
“Master, I’m telling you this so you know I’m still a member of Fairy Tail. I’ve been sent here to kill you Master.”  
Makarov realized what she was trying to say, earn the enemy’s trust, then annihilate. But the fact they want him dead… “Do you know why?”  
“No, but I have a theory. I think it’s because of Fairy Law.”  
“You may be right. Anyway, do what you must.”  
“NO I will not kill you, yet I was sent to. I know Atlas Nightmare doesn’t trust me as well as I would like. They may even be listening now. I have no idea. But I will not harm family, there has to be another way,” Erza said.  
“My, my, I should have known. Erza Scarlet is known for her loyalty. I should have known my “boss” couldn’t be trusted,” said a voice from the dark corner.  
“Dai! How- why- what, Why are you here, how?” Erza stammered. There were very little times she got nervous or scared, but now was one of them. She reminded herself that she was Titania Erza, and bowed to no one.  
“Master asked me to follow you, to see if you could be trusted, turns out he was right. Neither of you will be leaving alive.”   
~In the main guild hall~  
“Hey Mirajane, why do you think Erza’s back?” asked a guild member.  
“I have no idea, all she said was that she wanted to speak with Master, but I think-” she was cut off by a loud blast and a shock wave. Many things and people were knocked to the ground. Several people noticed the top floor of the guild had been blown off. Severals screamed, especially when they noticed Makarov’s office was missing. Mira rushed up and noticed the shirt Erza had been wearing was ripped and thrown away from the door, along with Makarov’s jacket.  
“No...” she said in disbelief. No it wasn’t possible that Erza and Makarov had died.  
Lisanna walked over, one hand covering her mouth, “Mira...”  
Elfman walked over as well, “Maybe… Maybe they managed to escape.”  
Some others shuffled through the wreckage and found more shredded clothes. The guild wept for their dead members. They started gathering all they could find that represented them. Some decided to make graves, others set up a funeral. Mira decided to wait until the groups that were out to come back before she said anything. It was a sad day for the guild, and weighed heavily on them. They had lost two vary valuable and important members of their family.  
~With Gajeel and Levy~  
“Gajeel, we’re here!” Levy said. They gray steam train had finally reached the sunny and warm town of Akané.  
“Let’s just go look for Erza and finish our job” Gajeel replied gruffly. Levy looked at the iron dragon slayer. His face was still pale from his motion sickness.  
“Sure, then we can go out on our own,” Levy said smiling.  
“Sure shrimp,” replied Gajeel, placing his hand on Levy’s shoulder. When they walked out of the train station, Gray and Juvia greeted them.   
“We heard you were coming. We’re going to the guild, Erza is long gone. I’ve sent a note to Flame Brain and Lucy,” Gray said with a rushed voice.   
“Not so fast,” said a voice.   
“Dai!?” they all screamed.  
“Yes it’s me, now you won’t be getting away, you see, I have a whole army at my disposal. Dai gestured around the city, and the others noticed it was surrounded by Atlas Nightmare soldiers.  
“Crap,” said Gajeel.  
“What is it that you want from us?” Levy asked.  
“Our plan is to snuff out fairy tail, and then move onto other guilds.”  
“You won’t get away with it! We will stop you!” Juvia said.  
“Oh will you now? Let’s see about that.” He motioned for the army, “ATTACK!”  
~With Erza and Makarov~  
Erza had known what to do, just as the attack was launched she grabbed the teleportation lacrima Makarov always kept on his desk for emergencies. However, they got hit by the attack as they were escaping. Now Erza and Makarov found themselves in a dark cave, slightly injured.  
“That wasn’t Dai,” Erza said.  
“What?” Makarov asked, shocked.  
“Dai has wind magic.”  
“So then who was it?”  
“I don’t know, but whoever it was, wasn’t very friendly.”  
“Obviously,” Makarov said. “Where are we?”  
“I believe Hakabe, it was the only place I thought of that could keep us safe.”  
“Natsu and Lucy are here too, we should group up and make a plan,” Makarov suggested. Suddenly they heard voices.  
“Thanks for this, by the way. It means a lot to me!”  
“No problem, you’re my girlfriend after all, I have to keep you close. It’s also my job to protect you, Lucy.”  
Erza froze and her jaw dropped, Girlfriend? Lucy? What was going on?  
“Thanks Natsu, I love you.”  
“I love you too.”  
Makarov also froze, but was smiling, and turned to Erza, “Let’s crash their party.”  
Erza nodded, “But it’s only to plan right?”  
“Suuure…”  
They quietly walked down the corridor in the cave, arriving at an opening. Natsu and Lucy’s backs were facing the doorway and both were unaware they had company. Erza was surprised Natsu hadn’t picked up on their scent yet.  
“Hello there you two,” Erza said. The couple screamed and jumped apart.   
“I-It’s not w-what it looks l-like!” Lucy stammered, blushing.  
“She’s right,” Natsu said with nervous laughter.  
“Really, because it looks like you two were on a date,” Erza said with a glare. Natsu and Lucy started shaking in fear.  
“Why didn’t you kids tell us?” Master said smiling.  
“Yes, you should have told us, we’re happy you finally realized your feelings!” Erza said, also smiling.  
“You’re not mad at us?” Natsu asked. He let out the breath he was holding once they shook their heads.   
“Anyway, we needed to find you as well, the guild Atlas Nightmare attacked us,” Erza said.  
Just then the couple realized Erza was there. “ERZA!” Lucy screamed, hugging her friend. “How’d you get out?”  
“That’s a story for another time, we need to get Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, and Levy.” Erza held out the teleport lacrima, “We have this but it won’t be enough for all of us.”  
“Mest!” Lucy said.   
The others looked confused. “Mest, he has teleportation magic!”  
“OHHHH” they others said.  
“I’ll get him,” Makarov said. He grabbed the lacrima and disappeared. A minute later he appeared with Mest.   
“So you need my help?” Mest said after they explained everything.  
They nodded. “Ok, where to?”   
“First Akane, then the guild.” said Erza.  
“That will take a lot of magic power.”  
“But you can do it right?”  
“Yes.” He then used his magic to teleport to Akane, which was only a few towns over.  
They teleported in the middle of the army.  
“Natsu! Makarov! Lucy! ERZA?!” Levy yelled.  
“Yes a fight!” Natsu said. “I’m all fired up!” He turned to the first wave, and with a flaming fist, punched a soldier sending five of them flying back. “Fire Dragon Roar!” fire projected out of his mouth towards more soldiers.  
“We can’t let salamander have all the fun!” Gajeel said. “Iron dragon club!” His arm turned into a pole of iron, smacking down more enemies.  
“Open gate of the golden bull! Taurus!” Lucy yelled.  
“Ice make Excalibur!” Gray said.  
“Water slicer!” chimed in Juvia.  
“Solid script; Iron!” Levy said, causing the word Iron to fall on soldiers.  
“Re-quipt, Purgatory Armour!” Erza’s clothes turned into spiky black armour, with a thick club as her weapon.   
The fight lasted only ten minutes before the only enemy left was Dai.  
“Wow, I didn’t expect this!” Dai said, however it seemed like there were two voices. From the shadows another Dai walked out.   
“Dai!?” Erza said.  
“Yes Erza it’s me, and my twin brother. I have the wind, he has the explosions, but we have another power.”  
The two Dais grabbed each other's hand, “Merge!” Suddenly, then merged into one Dai.   
“My soldiers are lost, but at least my plan worked! I managed to keep many of Fairy Tail’s strongest distracted while the rest of my guild attacked yours! It’s the end for you Fairy Tail!” he said.  
“The guild!” Levy yelled.  
Natsu’s face was full of rage, “You hurt my family? You hurt my guild?”  
“Yes and what will you do about it?”   
“I’ll pound you into the ground!” Natsu said, launching an attack. Dai blew him back with his wind.  
“Natsu!” Lucy screamed.   
Natsu got up, “I’m good, Bolts, Levy, Erza, Mest, Lucy, Ice Princess, Juvia, and Gramps, go protect the guild! I’ll handle this guy.”  
“Oh no you don’t!” Lucy yelled. “I’m staying here to help you!”  
“Lucy you have to go, you’ll get hurt here! Wendy isn’t here!”  
“I don’t care! I’ll stay with my boyfriend no matter what!”  
The others who hadn’t heard about the couple were shocked by Lucy’s words, but they quickly pushed it aside.  
“Lucy…,” Natsu said.  
“You guys leave, Me and Natsu got this guy!”  
They nodded, Makarov, and Erza grabbing the lacrima, while Mest teleported Gajeel, Levy, Juvia, and Gray.  
“Let’s do this,” Natsu said.  
“Yeah! I’m all fired up now!” Lucy said, smiling. It warmed Natsu’s heart that she used his phrase, but he turned to Dai, glaring.  
“You’re going down, NO ONE HURTS MY FAMILY!”   
~At the guild~  
“Mira! The guild! It’s surrounded!” yelled Lisanna.  
“What?” Mira said. She looked out and sure enough, there was an army surrounding the guild.  
“I’ll go see what they want, probably a complaint about us,” said Macao, he was now their temporary master until they picked someone else. He walked out. “Excuse me sirs is there a problem?”  
“Yes there is, and it’s you,” a man said, pointing a gun and shooting Macao, the shot wasn’t fatal. “We’re Atlas Nightmare and we’re here to end you.”  
The guild ran out, when they saw Macao get shot, so they were able to hear the last sentence.  
Immediately the guild attacked.   
“Satan Soul!” Mira said, transforming into her demon take over.  
Elfman and Lisanna transformed into their take overs. Laxus was out and attacking along with the Thunder legion.   
Even “The witches crime” was out.   
When Erza and the others arrived, they were in the middle of an all out war.   
“Erza?” a voice said.  
She knew that voice, she’d lived with it for years, “Jellal!” She turned around and saw her friend.  
“Erza, you’re back..,” Jellal started crying. Erza nodded to her friends, telling them to go help fight, and hugged Jellal. They both slid to the ground, hugging while Jellal cried, “I thought I lost you. I couldn’t bear with it. Not again. After Simon and the tower of heaven, I couldn’t handle it. Erza, I love you, I don’t want to lose you again!”  
Erza smiled, “You won’t. So I take it this mysterious fiancée doesn’t exist?”  
“No, I was hesitant to start a relationship. I didn’t deserve you after all my crimes.”  
“I don’t care Jellal, I want to start a relationship with you. Anyway we can talk about this later. We have a fight to win!”  
~Back with Nalu~  
Natsu attacked again and again, but none of his hits were landing. Dai’s wind barriers were too strong.  
“Open gate of the lion! Loke!” Lucy shouted.  
“Hey there,” Loke said smoothly.  
“Back off,” Natsu said annoyed with Loke for trying to flirt with Lucy.  
“Regulus Punch!” Loke shouted. Dai just deflected the attack again. Lucy collapsed and Loke disappeared.  
“Lucy!” Natsu shouted.  
“She’s used up all of her magic power!” Dai said. “This will work out well for me.” Dai attacked Lucy, who was struggling to stand up.   
“AAAHHHH!” Lucy screamed.  
“Lucy!” Natsu shouted. “You’ll pay!” he said glaring at Dai.  
“Wind Barrier!” Dai shouted. Natsu was pushed back and into a wall. “Explosion!” Dai shouted, attacking Lucy again. Lucy flew into another wall. “Explosion! Explosion! Explosion!” Dai shouted. Lucy screamed louder. “How does it feel to be completely helpless as you watch your friend struggle,” Dai said.   
“I’ll get you!” Natsu growled. “I’ll get you!” he yelled.  
“Oh really?” Dai asked. “Because to me it looks like you can’t even move.”  
Natsu struggled to move his arm, growling. Dai continued to attack Lucy. Natsu was so enraged at the way Dai was treating Lucy, he found the strength to stand. Natsu pushed his way through the wind barrier.  
“No matter what,” Natsu grunted, “I’ll always have enough strength, to protect my friends. It may take the last of my energy, but I don’t care. I would die for Lucy, and all my family in Fairy Tail!” Natsu made it out of the barrier.   
“How did you escape my barrier?” Dai asked menacingly.   
“I couldn’t afford to let you keep me trapped,” Natsu said. “I have too many people counting on me.”  
“Well if that’s how it is,” Dai said, he stopped attacking Lucy, “I’ll just finish you off.”  
“Fire Dragon ROAR!” Natsu shouted.  
What’s this? My barrier can barely hold his attack back! This shouldn’t be possible! Fire magic is weak to wind magic! Dai thought.   
“Explosion Tornado!” Dai shouted. A tornado picked Natsu up, he was trapped in the middle surrounded by wind. Suddenly the walls started exploding, bouncing Natsu between them. Natsu ate the flames from the explosions and jumped out of the tornado.   
“Fire Dragon Sword-Horn!” Natsu shouted headbutting the shocked Dai.  
“How can you eat the flames from my explosion attack?” Dai asked.  
“I’m a fire dragon slayer,” Natsu said, “Element magic doesn’t work on it’s type of slayer. Explosion is a type of fire magic, and fire magic will never stand a chance against me.”  
Dai growled, “You should still be weak to my wind magic!”  
“Too bad. I’ve already beaten wind magic users before, I can do it again,” Natsu said smirking.  
Lucy looked up and saw Natsu fighting Dai. “Natsu…” she mumbled.  
“Fire Dragon ROAR!” Natsu shouted while Dai was distracted by the ringing communication lacrima in his pocket. Dai was pushed through a few buildings. Natsu walked over to Lucy, “Hey. Are you going to be okay?” he asked with a concerned look on his face.  
“Yeah. I think I’m going to be fine,” Lucy replied trying to stand up, but collapsing again.   
“Let me carry you,” Natsu said picking her up. “I’m sorry.” he whispered.  
“For what?” asked Lucy.  
“I should have paid more attention to your safety, I could have stopped you from getting hurt…” he said trailing off.  
“It was my decision to stay. It’s not your fault, and if we’re going to place blame I say it’s Atlas Nightmare’s fault, they sent Dai.” Lucy said.  
“They’re going to pay for messing with Fairy Tail!” Natsu said. He bent over and kissed Lucy on the forehead, “They’ll pay for hurting you.”

~Fairy Tail Vs. Atlas Nightmare~  
Makarov was on the ground, with Aria standing over him. Fights were going on in the background.  
“Oh so sad, I was able to defeat Fairy Tail’s master once again!” Aria said.  
“I may be on the ground, I may be at your feet, but you have not won. My family will stop you. They always prevail, for the sake of their guild. They won’t give up. It’s in their nature to finish a fight, and finish it victoriously,” said Makarov.  
“No one’s here to save you, how sad.”  
“You may want to rethink that,” Makarov said smiling, as Erza kicked Aria in the back of the head, knocking him down.   
Jellal came right beside her, “Alataris!” Jellal crossed his arms over his head as a black orb of shadows formed and fired.  
Makarov struggled to stand. Erza noticed and helped him up, “Master you’re hurt, you have to see Wendy and Porlyusica, we’ve already set up a base camp for the injured.”  
“I’m fine, I will stand with you and fight!”  
Erza smiled, “I have to disagree, you need healing.”  
Just then Panther Lily came down and picked up Makarov.  
“Hey put me down you bag of fur!” the little man yelled, thrashing his arms around.  
“Sorry Master, no can do.”  
Meanwhile the Thunder Legion and Laxus were fighting a big group of soldiers.  
“They’re all around us,” said Freed.  
“I can see that for myself,” responded Evergreen, with an edge in her voice.  
“Focus on the enemy. Stop fighting each other. The old man is counting on us,” Laxus snapped.  
“Yes sir!” the Thunder Legion shouted, launching their attacks.  
“Stone Eyes!” Evergreen shouted.  
“Dark Écriture: Absolute Shadow!” Freed said.  
“Babies, Baryon Formation!” Bickslow shouted.   
“Lightning Dragon Roar!” Laxus shouted. The enemy soldiers fell to the ground.  
Natsu and Lucy arrived at Magnolia. They saw members of Fairy Tail in the streets brawling with the enemy soldiers. Freed was trapping other soldiers in his enchantments now.  
“Reminds me of the Fantasia incident,” Lucy said.  
“Yeah, except we’re fighting a common enemy, not ourselves, well we need to get you to Wendy,” Natsu said, concerned.  
Suddenly the air got cold, and the plants around them started withering.  
“Natsu look!” Lucy said.  
Natsu recognised the signs, there was only one person that Death followed everywhere. “Zeref,” he growled.  
“Hello Natsu,” said the aforementioned dark mage.  
Natsu turned, facing the mage. Zeref looked like he did seven years ago on Tenrou, calm, and at ease. “What do you want?” he snapped.  
“I just want to visit my dear younger brother.”  
Both Natsu and Lucy froze. Brother? “I’m not your brother, you jerk.”  
“Ah but you are,” Zeref said, holding out his hand. A book appeared with the letters, E.N.D on the front cover.   
“E.N.D, again, I’ll take that book. Because of him Igneel died!” Natsu shouted. He put Lucy down promising to come back after the fight.   
“Have you ever wondered what E.N.D. stood for? Well, I might as well tell you. Etherious Natsu Dragneel.”  
Natsu was unfazed, “You’re lying, you’re trying to manipulate me.”  
“Oh but I’m not,” Zeref said with a smile, opening the book.  
Suddenly Natsu started thrashing, fire surrounding him. Virgo appeared next to Lucy, “Princess it’s time to go.”  
“Natsu! No Virgo we need to help Natsu!” Lucy screamed hysterically.  
Loke appeared next to them, “Don’t worry Lucy, I’ll be here to help him.”  
Lucy had tears coming down her face, “Please Loke, Please.”  
Loke nodded as Virgo and Lucy disappeared.   
~At the guild~  
“Iron dragon club!” Gajeel yelled, taking down the last enemy. Jellal and Erza emerged from their fight victoriously, and had a bound Aria between them. “That’s the last of them.”  
Lucy appeared with tears in her eyes. “Natsu! Natsu! Something’s wrong. Zeref was there and said that Natsu was his brother and E.N.D, then Natsu was engulfed in flames and started thrashing!” She cried.  
Suddenly there was a giant explosion from the hill where Natsu and Zeref were, and Loke appeared.   
“Lucy… I’m sorry, but they disappeared.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is the end of part 2. I hope you guys enjoyed this. Again, the next chapter is being posted right away. I have not finished part 3 yet so it will be broken up a lot. Into many chapters.


	3. Seek and You Will Find What is Lost and Hidden

Erza and Jellal followed Happy to Lucy's apartment.

"You ready?" Jellal asked.

"Yes. She's my friend. She can't stay locked up forever, how else would she find him?" Erza said.

"Guys come on, we have to go in and help Lucy," Happy said, with the now forever presence of sadness.

Erza reached up and knocked. "Lucy, it's me, Jellal, and Happy. Can we come in?"

There was only silence.

Erza tried turning the nob and found it was unlocked. When they entered the house they were met by darkness, and the sound of crying.

"Lucy?" Jellal called out.

Happy, able to tell where the sound was coming from, flew over to Lucy and snuggled up with her.

"H-Happy," Lucy said.

"It's okay Lucy, we will find him."

"H-Has Master or Erza told anyone we were dating? I-I don't want anyone to know y-yet."

"No we haven't Lucy, we always would respect your wishes, but as your friend it's my job to help you. I know what it's like to lose a loved one, and you know that. And I understand he's not dead, so we have to go find him. He's out there. I know it. Think of what he would want you to do," Erza said.

"H-he'd want me to," she stopped to wipe away her tears and to stand up. "He'd want me to stand tall, and help the guild. He wouldn't want me to stay here and cry. He'd want me to be strong and find him, like he would find me!"

You're absolutely right, Lucy," Erza said. "He'd want you to find him. He wouldn't want you to cry like this. So come on, and help us find Natsu."

"Yeah, I'm coming, thanks guys," Lucy said standing up and wiping her tears.

"Now, we have to go see the master. He said he wants to speak with you," Erza said.

"Ok, I'm ready," Lucy said.

~when they found Makarov~

"Erza, Jellal, Happy, I must speak with Lucy privately," Makarov said.

Erza, Jellal, and Happy left the room.

"Lucy, you said Zeref said Natsu is E.N.D.?" Master said.

"Yeah. Zeref said that. He also said Natsu is his brother," Lucy answered.

"That would make sense then, between that information and the information we were given by the dragons, the dragon slayers would be over 400 years old. Also why they couldn't get through the barrier during Laxus's Fantasia incident. Anyway, Natsu is a member of Fairy Tail and all members of Fairy Tail are our family. Including Natsu. He will always be our family and we must find him, and that's why I'm putting you in charge of the search team."

Lucy smiled, I'll finally see him again.


	4. Seek and You Will Find What is Lost and Hidden

"Ok everyone Lucy is in charge of the search for Natsu," Makarov announced to the guild.

"Aye Sir!" called Happy.

"Alright, first we need a map," Lucy said. "Reedus, can you draw one for us? Preferably a large one."

"Oui."

"Great. We need to split up into teams of 2 or 3. The teams will cover more ground so the search should go faster than if we searched in 1 or 2 big groups." As Lucy finished talking people started moving to form groups. Gajeel and Levy moved towards each other, while Juvia tackled Gray shouting "Gray-sama!" Gray did not say anything but looked annoyed. Everyone in the guild was paired up except for Elfman and Evergreen.

"Hey, why don't you 2 pair up? You're the only ones left," Elfman's sister Mira said.

"Why-" Evergreen started.

"Fine what ever, it's not like there is another option," Elfman grumbled.

"Oooh, you liiike her," Happy said. Elfman and Evergreen glared at Happy.

"Ok. Now that everyone's paired up, let's figure out who's searching where," Lucy announced.

"I want to take Mount Hakobe," Gray said.

"Wherever Gray-sama wants to go is fine with Juvia," added Juvia. Lucy marked Gray and Juvia's team down to search Mt. Hakobe.

"I'd like to search the Ancient Ruins," Freed said.

"And I want Crocus," Evergreen said.

"Fine by me, flowers are manly," Elfman said.

"Sign me and Shrimp up for the Spooky Forest," Gajeel said pulling Levy close.

"We'll take the Phoenix Mountains," Jet said.

When all of Fiore was claimed by the groups Mira and Lisanna were left to claim a place.

"Mira and Lisanna, I need you 2 to stay here with a communication lacrima. In case of an emergency you 2 are our backup," Lucy said.

"On it," Mira said.

"Ok, Everyone pack your bags and be ready to leave tomorrow."

"Aye!" Happy shouted.


	5. Seek and You Will Find What is Lost and Hidden

~With zeref in some cave somewhere~

Natsu- E.N.D was sitting in the corner unconscious.

"You failed your job. I should destroy you, but I worked hard bring you back. You made quite a few friends. Who was that girl? Your girlfriend? Sorry to do that to her but I need you for my plan. You defeated Atlas nightmare, and now I have to think of something new. I'm not satisfied with ending my life anymore. I want to end the whole world so nothing like this ever happens again."

E.N.D stirred.

"Oh don't wake up yet! I have to figure out how to keep you from killing me. My plan isn't complete."

E.N.D was awake though. He was battling with Natsu. But both had the same plan. Escape. Both wanted to get back to Lucy. Though E.N.D was a demon, he still was Natsu. In reality, E.N.D was just a more violent Natsu. They shared almost all of the same feelings. Suddenly they sprung at Zeref, knocking him over. Zeref tried to attack back, but E.N.D/Natsu was already running out of the cave. By the time Zeref got back up, he couldn't find them.

"Oh well, I'll have to wait longer I suppose. I can't risk going out now. I'll have to find you later."

As E.N.D/Natsu escaped he let out a roar, which, to careful ears, may have sounded like a name.

~With guild~

"Lucy did you pick a place to go?" asked Mirajane.

I face-palmed, "No I forgot, I'll just go search each town, that will be better. I can use my celestial spirits to help as well."

Mira nodded.

I walked back home to pack a bag, I would find Natsu if no one else would.

~Later~

"Ms. Lucy you know I could carry you!" said Taurus.

"No thanks Taurus I'm doing fine. Please go back." I said. I was struggling to walk up a mountain. I didn't even know which mountain I was on, I was just following my instinct, trying to find where Natsu might be. I sent Taurus back to the celestial world. Plue also was sent back. I needed my magic energy if I found Natsu.

I finally reached the peak of the small mountain, seeing the village down below.

"I don't even know what village this is," I said to myself. I was hoping my instinct was correct. I started down the other side of the mountain into the woods, to get to the village when suddenly I heard a roar that eerily sounded like my name. I shivered a little spooked by it, but continued on my way. I was determined to find Natsu and I wasn't going to give up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, Zeref's character is probably really cringe.


	6. Seek and You Will Find What is Lost and Hidden

Lucy's P.O.V.

As I continued to hike up the mountain, I saw an explosion.

"Natsu!" I shouted.

I paused for a moment before sprinting. If that was Natsu I had to find him.

Natsu's P.O.V.

Almost there, I almost have control over my body back. I thought before END pushed me back down(figuratively).

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" END (I?) growled as he (I?) punched a large boulder. END had total control over me. Nothing I tried could suppress his (my?) rage and violence.

Jet and Droy came into view. It appeared Droy had been hit by a piece of the boulder when it blew up and went flying in all directions.

"Natsu, where have you been? Lucy's worried sick, everyones been looking for you!" Droy shouted before he noticed my face and arm.

END lunged. Jet and Droy went flying backwards, out of sight.

Suddenly I heard Lucy's voice.

"Natsu!" she was calling.

I tried even harder than before to control END, if he caused me to hurt Lucy... I didn't know what I'd do. I saw Lucy's face come into view.

"Natsu! You're okay!" she cried as she ran towards me.

"Lucy- Don't- Come any- Closer!" I managed to say before my energy was completely gone, and I was succumbed to END's darkness.

Lucy's P.O.V.

"Lucy- Don't- Come any- Closer!" Natsu said, seeming to struggle.

I slowed to a walk.

"Natsu, what-" I started before I noticed Natsu looked strange. "What's going on?"

Natsu was breathing heavily. His face obscured by shadows, one of Natsu's hands had turned into a black claw. I moved back a little.

"Natsu..." I whispered.

Jet came into sight from my left. He was trying to prop up Droy, who appeared to be unconscious.

"Lucy, help me take Droy and run! Natsu's acting weird!" Jet said.

"I think I know what's wrong." I said quietly.

"Well, what is it?" Jet asked.

"On the mountain, when Zeref showed up... He said something about Natsu being END." I said, looking at the ground.

Jet was silent.

"You should go. I think I can snap him out of it." I said.

"What?! Are you crazy?! He'll obliterate you if you can't!" Jet shouted.

"Please. This is something I have to do." I said, looking at Jet, confident.

"Okay," Jet said. "But if anything happens, Makarov is gonna kill me for leaving you to fight a demon of the books of Zeref by yourself."

I watched as he started struggling to move Droy down Mount Hakobe. I then turned to face END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why do i keep going with cliffhanger endings? i'm noticing a pattern...


	7. Seek and You Will Find What is Lost and Hidden

Lucy's P.O.V.  
"Natsu, I know you're in there." I said, looking him in the eye.  
END lunged. I dove out of the way, just in time.  
"Natsu! I know you'd never hurt me! Snap out of it!" I shouted. In order for my plan to work, I just needed to get close enough. 

Lisanna's P.O.V.  
"Mira, there's a call coming in from Jet!" I called to her as I answered the lacrima.  
Mira rushed to my side. "Jet, what is it? Did you find Natsu?"  
"Yes, but Droy and I are on our way back, he's been injured. Natsu's acting weird. He has all these black marks on his skin. Lucy found us and made us go without her. She said this was something she had to do."  
"We'll call back everyone so we can have backp standing by in case Lucy calls." Mira said. She hung up the lacrima. "Lisanna, start calling everyone back to the guild. I'm going to tell master."

Erza's P.O.V.  
(I realized that I never said where Erza and Jellal went. They are in Rose Garden. I looked up a map of Fiore for this)  
"Erza, the lacrima is buzzing." Jellal said.  
"Give it to me, I'll answer." I said.  
Jellal handed me the lacrima.  
"Hello, Mira?" I said.  
"No, it's Lisanna." Lisanna said.  
"What is it? Has someone found Natsu?" I asked.  
"Yes, Jet and Droy found him. But they're on their way back to the guild. Lucy is with Natsu in the Phoenix Mountains right now. Jet said something was wrong with Natsu and that Lucy stayed with him. We're calling everyone back to the guild hall." Lisanna said.  
"What? Why? We should be going to help Lucy." I said.  
"We're going to wait until Lucy calls for backup."  
"Very well. Jake (Jellal's alias that has not been used yet because no one has spoken to or about Jellal in public yet) and I are on our way back." I said. I hung up the lacrima and gave it back to Jellal.  
"This is great! They found Natsu!" Jellal said.  
"Yes! It is!" I said.  
(idk why i'm going to include this part except to have actual jerza included i'll find a way to make it plot)  
Jellal pulled me closer, he brought his face close to mine. We were centimeters apart, Jellal and I kissed.  
"Was that even greater?" Jellal asked, flirting. (lol how bad is this??? my friend gave me a lot of help with the fluffy confession scenes please tell me i didn't just kill jerza)  
"Yes, but that aside, I think we should go help Lucy." I said.  
"Alright, I agree." Jellal said.  
"Jake, let's go." I said.

Lucy's P.O.V.  
"Open Gate of the Twins! Gemini!" I shouted.  
"Piri-piri" Gemini said. (i googled what noise they make, the wiki said it's spelled that way.)  
"Gemini, I need you to distract Natsu for me. I need to get in close."  
"Piri-piri" Gemini responded. Gemini transformed into me. Gemini ran to the other side of END/Natsu.  
"Hey! Over here!" Gemini shouted.  
I ran up to Natsu, and before he could attack Gemini, I turned him around. I grabbed Natsu's face and kissed him.

Natsu's P.O.V.  
I snapped out of it. Lucy was kissing me???  
As much as I loved it, I pulled away in shock.  
"What's going on?" I asked.  
"Natsu! You're back to normal!" Lucy shouted.  
I could feel END trying to take over again.  
"Lucy, I might not have much time, I can feel END trying to take over!" I said quickly.  
"We're going back to the guild, we'll figure out what's going on." Lucy said, grabbing my hand. (which is back to normal and not a claw. the black marks disappeared as well)  
Lucy closed Gemini's gate. I kept holding her hand. Lucy being close seemed to help suppress END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about short chapters, I have less inspiration now than before. I feel like this is going downhill... Tell me what you guys think! Thank you for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for ending that there, I'm posting the second chapter immediately. I'm posting this in a few different chapters to start, i still need to get the next chapter of the 3rd 'book'. the second chapter is a sequel to the first 'book' was actually doing it for english. I decided to post it on Fanfiction.net, It is on NerdyNat's profile, not my own. I made my account after.


End file.
